Reverberatory furnace



1,85 1,835. Patented Sept. 7, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

N /1 TTOH/VEY H. L. CHARLES.

REVERBERATOR'Y FURNACE. APPLICATION FILED Aue.30, I9I7. REIIEwED IAN. 23, 1920.

1,351,835. PatentedSept. 7, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

mi@ @Im $5@ /NVENTH J/enry Z. Charles.

ATTORNEY UNITED sTATEs HENRY L. CHARLES, OF BUTTE, MONTANA.

REVEBBERATORY FURNACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. '7, 1920.

Application led August 30, 1917, Serial No. 188,889. Renewed January 23, 1920. Serial No. 353,589.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, HENRY L. CHARLES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Butte, in the county of Silver Bow and State of Montana, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsy in Reverberatory Furnaces, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

My invention relates to improvements in the method of feeding reverberatory smelting furnaces, and is in the nature of an improvement upon my United States Patent No. 871,477, granted November 19, 1907. In my previous patent, I disclosed the method offeeding the raw silicious ores against the side walls of the furnace to prevent the molten slag, matte or any of the sulfids from touching the brick lining, corroding the wall around the hearth, instead of charging the furnace so as to cover the hearth several inches deep, leaving the walls exposed to corrosion.

According to my present method of feeding the furnace, I prefer to feed the metallic ores such as copper, iron, nickel, Zinc, etc., calcines, flue-dust, silicious ores, copper chips, slag, copper or iron refuse lin rows 0r a serles of mounds or piles from hoppers above the roof, so that the ores to be smelted will pile upon the hearth, presenting a much larger surface exposed to the heat. method, when ore is brought to a point at the top of a pile or mound to be smelted, it will frit down the sides of the pile or mound much master than when the ore is lying substantially iiat upon the hearth, and as soon as the melted ore flows away, it leaves fresh ore exposed to the heat, whereas in present practice, the ore remains blanketed over the centerV ofthe hearth, making it diflicult for the heat to penetrate and melt the ore beneath. It may also be desirable to have the rear mounds or piles of ore higher than the piles or mounds at the center and at the front end of the hearth thereby producing the effect of a 'gradual slope of ore mounds toward the front ends y of the furnace,and I prefer that the bottom of the hearth be given a slight slope toward the front, and that the front of the hearth be much deeper than usual t0` act as a receiver for the molten metal and slag. Fluxes of any suitable kind can also be fed if desirable to clean the slag. Copper scraps, iron scraps or ores may 'also be fed,

By this and I have found that the grade of matte can be raised. or lowered when properly handled Aat this point.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated in Figure 1, partly in longitudinal cross section, the usual form of reverberatory furnace, illustrating an embodiment of my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the line 2 2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3, a cross sectional view of such a furnace on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1, and Figs. 4 and 5 also cross sectional views of such a furnace on the lines 4-4 and 5 5 respectively of Flg. l. 6 indicates the usual furnace foundation, and 7 the bed of the furnace,

provided with a bridge wall such as 8, at one side of which is provided the grate bars 9, from which the flame and gases from the fire pass rightwardly over the brick wall along the entire furnace escaping at the right, or front end of the furnace through the usual flue not shown.

9 10 11 indicate the piles or mounds of metallic ores to be smelted, and the piles or mounds are formed by the ores dropping from the hoppers 12 13 14 immediately above.

I have found that to feed coarse or lumps of ore, slag or copper chips first upon the hearth, and the finer ores last, such as fluedust, calcine concentrates, slimes, etc., raw or roasted, that it is easier to maintain the piles or mounds in shape. The liner products, such as flue-dust, calcines, ores etc., will if hot, spread over a large area faster in a molten bath of metal and slag, than if they are fed uponla dry hearth, however, I do not of course limit myself to either method of proceeding, and the piles or mounds may be maintained after the smelting has begun, and any furnace in operation can be used in the application of my method, while the furnace is at full heat, and while full of molten metal and slag.

In the construction of a furnace, it may be desirable to build these mounds of any suitable refractory material, so as to maintain the continuous shape of the, mound, although it may of course be found prefera-ble to form the mounds or piles of a fusible ore.

As the fiame and gases pass rightwardly, looking at Fig. 1 at the front of the furnace, the pointed peaks of the mounds or piles such as indicated by the reference character l0, round off and drop down, leaving the piles or mounds more rounded and reduced at the top as indicated by the reference character 9. and for the purpose of restoring the peaks or points-of the mounds, additional ore may be discharged from the proper hoppers immediately upon the mounds as required. and While the smelting operation is going on.

'hile I have shown in Fig. 2 a staggered arrangement and means at the left of said figure, it may of course in some instances be desirable to arrange the mounds in a roW or rows, such as illustrated at the right of Fig. 2 in dotted outline, and I also of course prefer to mound the ore against the wall of the furnace as shown, and as specified in my previous pat-ent referred to.

The last lmounds indicated by the reference character 1l in Fig. l, I may prefer to maintain in reduced size as shown, thus facilitating the accumulation of the matte 12 and slag 13 at the front of the furnace.

From the foregoing, it will be read-ily understood that a3 very much larger surface of ore is thus presented to the intensely hot gases and fiame of the furnace and that as the finer ore upon the top and sides of the mounds or piles is melted and run off, additional ore may be constantly supplied thereby maintaining a large surface presented to the heat of the furnace, thus hastening the smelting operation and providing an arrangement practically automatic for continuous operation. By staggering the piles or vmounds of ore as shown at the left of F ig. 2 the flame and furnace gases are obliged to lick around the mounds thoroughly contacting through whereas in the old practice the larger portion of these hot gases passed right through the furnace without contacting with the ores. It will also be found that by first charging the hoppers with the coarser ores and subsequently With more finely divided ores and still Yfiner as the tOp of the mounds or. piles are approached until finally depositing a mere dust that a quicker and more eflicient Working Will be provided and as the mounds settle, it is preferable to first add some of the coarser ore upon the top of the settled mound before adding the finer ore to form the peaks.

Of course it will be understood that various modifications may be made in the construction and arrangement of parts and in the several steps'of my invention Without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

I` claim:

l. The Within described method of feeding ores into a reverberatory furnace consisting in dropping the same upon the hearth in such a manner as to provide piles or mounds at frequent intervals.

2. The Within described method of feeding ores into a reverberatory furnace which consists in dropping the same upon the hearth in such a manner as to provide piles or mounds at frequent intervals, and at predetermined places.

3. rIhe Within described method of feeding ores into a reverberatory furnace consisting in dropping the ores upon the hearth in small piles at short intervals whereby a maximum surface of the ores is presented.

4. The Within described method of feeding ores into a reverberatory furnace consisting in discharging the same upon the hearth by first feeding the coarser portions of the ore, then the finer portions thereafter. l

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

HENRY L. CHARLES.

'Witnesses ETHEL G. GARDNER7 ANNA F. DUFFY. 

